Dollhouse Miniature Paint Test DIY Crackle Medium

Watch the video here.

This week I decided to do another paint test, this time I wanted to test some of the DIY options for crackle medium. If you have watched my channel for very long you probably have figured out I love to age things. I would much rather make something look like it has been around for a while and maybe not taken the best care of than to make stuff that looks like it just came from the store. I love how aged items add so much character to our mini worlds and help to tell the story of life.

That being said I have used a lot of crackle medium on the channel. But there have been way too many times in my crafting history that I have purchased a bottle of crackle medium, used a tiny bit of it then put the bottle away. Then the next time I want to use it one of two things probably happens either I can’t remember where I put it, or I know where it is only to find it has dried up and is no longer usable. I have wondered about some of the DIY solutions for a while but I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to try. So today I am testing a few of those options.

I did limit today’s test to alternatives that are all water based and things most of us doing dollhouse miniatures have on hand.

To set up the test I fist had to pick a surface to work on. I decided to use a sheet of 140 lb watercolor paper. I chose this because I wanted to do the test in such a way that I would end up with basically a chart that I could put in the tub with my craft paints to refer to later. The watercolor paper is very stiff and made to paint on. I was able to coat almost the entire page with multiple coats of liquid and there is no warping at all. I am also confident that my resulting chart will hold up to being tossed in the paint bin and not become overly damaged.

Since I wanted to have the best (most dramatic) contrast to show off the crackling I painted the work area of the chart with black craft paint. With the plan to use white as my top coat.

 

At first I was going to just use white craft paint (Anita’s Acrylic) but decided to add 2 of the paints I purchased at Dollar Tree (Prang Tempura and Acryology Acrylic) just to see what would happen with them. After all I have them in my stash and I would love to find some use for them.

As for the things we are testing to use as a DIY crackle medium- white glue (Elmer's school glue), Tacky glue (both as it comes and diluted), Mod Podge (mat and gloss), and dollhouse miniature wallpaper gel.

I tried to do my best to do each product the same way to give fair results. I did end up having to hurry the process along as the day went on because I simply ran out of time. This test took all day. I started trying to let each test dry before I went to the next one but that just wasn’t going to work since I only had a limited time to do this. So the ones toward the end didn’t get as much time.

I used my Mod Podge Squeegee to apply all (except the wallpaper gel) to the paper.

After these had a chance to set up a bit I used clean brushes to apply the paints over in each section.

So let’s look at each of the tests and see the results.

Elmer's School Glue: Elmer’s glue is probably the most commonly used product for this purpose so I started with it. I have had mixed results in the past. In the test it worked really well with the Anita’s paint. The Prang paint did give an interesting texture but it is not a crackle by any means. I didn’t really see much effect on the dollar store acrylic paint though.

Tacky Glue: I saw a lot of people saying not to use Tacky glue for this but no one said why. I decided to try it to see for myself how/if it would work. I have to say I love the way it worked with the Anita’s paint, it gave nice cracks that look very rustic. Some oar a bit large for mini objects but they look great and I will probably be using this for some projects in the future. The Prang paint really didn’t do much (again) but the dollar store acrylic paint has an almost lacy patter to it. I think this is combo is something I am going to play with off camera to see what I can do with it because I see some potential here.

Diluted Tacky glue: since tacky glue is much thicker that the white glue I decided to try it diluted with some water also. This gave some interesting results. In the spots where I had a thicker coverage the Anita’s paint has a nice crackle pattern. In the really thin areas it didn’t really do anything. The dollar store acrylic paint again has an almost lacy pattern to it which I am finding really interesting and frankly really pretty.

Mat Mod Podge: I saw a couple of tutorials online using Mod Podge as a crackle medium and all of them used the mat variety. The big difference in those tutorials from the ones using the white glue was they all put the paint over the Mod Podge much sooner so that is what I did also. I really don’t see much in the way of crackling with this and I wonder it if is just not a good option or should I have waited longer?? If I have time in the next few weeks I might try it again and see if I can test different times to see if I can get it to work better. That being said I have tried to use Mod Podge in the past as a crackle medium without success.

Gloss Mod Podge: every single tutorial I saw using Mod Podge as a crackly medium used mat and not any of the other varieties. That is not to say that there were none out there just none in the several I watched. I did this test the same as the I did with the mat and really got the same results. I did find however that for whatever reason the gloss variety dried much faster on my test surface that the mat did.

Dollhouse Miniature Wallpaper Gel: this was the test I was most excited about and I am very happy with the results. I did add most of the paint way too soon. If you look at the area at the right side of the box where the Anita’s paint is there is a bit of paint that was brushed on vertically, this I added an hour or more later when the gel started to get more tacky and the crackles in that part are really nice. I did find the gel took forever to dry, it was still a long way from dry when I checked it just before I went to bed and that was hours later. At that point I did hit it with my heat gun just a bit to see if I could get any crackling because at that point I wasn’t seeing much. After some heat I saw a few cracks starting but I also got a bit of bubbling. I only directed the heat at the the Anita’s part of the test but I am thinking that it also heated up the center (Prang) section also because I do see a few cracks in that area too. The part that really pleases me is the dollar store acrylic paint has some wonderful small cracks with the gel and the overall pattern of those cracks is very attractive. So this is another one that I think I will be playing around with to see what I can get it to do.

After getting through this test I have more ideas of other products I would like to try to see if they would work as crackle mediums so I will probably be doing another DIY crackle medium video in the future.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Pool Table Accessories pt 2

 

Watch the video here.

 

 

This week we are starting out making the balls for the pool table. I know the toy did come with some but they were very large and way out of scale. I went through my stash and pulled out my bag of Seed beads that I purchased at Walmart many years ago. I measured them and they are approximately 4 mm in diameter and at leas to me look to be a good scale.

 

I did the painting on the beads/balls in two sets. I started with the cue ball and all 7 of the striped balls. The first step was to firmly stick each bead onto a round toothpick. This gives us a handle making painting and finishing them a lot easier. It will also fill the hole in the bead so that won’t show. 

 

 

Once they were on the toothpick I simply coated all 8 of them with white paint. I did use my finger to help make sure the paint coat was fairly even. Place these in a safe place to dry where they won’t bump into each other or anything else.

Once the white paint dried I added the stripe to each of the 7 balls. I decided to use some of the disposable micro brushes I purchased on eBay a while back. Those have a really nice firm tiny tip and it really made getting the strip onto the balls pretty easy.

Once those have dried set them aside and put 8 more of the beads onto round toothpicks. This time we will be painting the solid color balls using the same colors of paint we used for the stripes as well as black. This time I just dipped them like I did with the white and used my fingertip to smooth the paint on each one.

Once the paint dries use a micro brush (or the end of a paint brush handle) to add a white dot to each of the balls.

If you want to add numbers to the balls you can do that once the white dots are dry. I decided that I don’t need to have numbers on mine. That tiny of a detail is not something I really want to tackle but if you do go for it.

Now it is time to add a nice shiny clear finish and I decided to use clear nail polish for this step. I chose this step because it was easy to apply and I know it will dry to a nice hard shiny finish that will not be sticky. I am using just a cheap clear polish from dollar tree.

Once the clear coat is dry it is time to safely remove the excess portion of the toothpicks. For this I like to use pet claw trimmers. They are designed to cut things that are round(ish) and hard. I love that I never have issues with round items getting misshapen when using these. Cut as close to the bead as possible.

Now since I am going to be gluing all but the cue ball (the white one) into the triangle rack I am not going to finish off the cut area. If are planning to display yours in a different way you will need to touch up the paint and clear finish where you cut them away from the toothpicks.

Now onto the triangle shaped rack. I decided to make my balls a permanent part of the rack so mine has a bottom that matches the outside of the rack and also then forms the slight rim at the bottom. I picked a light tan color card-stock for mine.

I started by drawing a short pencil line (less than 1” long) to line up the first row of balls against. I looked through my glues and decided that from the ones I have on hand that a CA type super glue was my best bet. I know it is not the best for paper but I think it will be my best choice to hold the plastic beads/balls in place.

I simply added the glue to a small area and using tweezers I added the balls to one row at a time. I then let each row sit for a minute or two to allow the glue to set up before adding the next row. Do your best to get the rows of balls tight against each other and make sure that the area where they were cut free from the toothpicks is hidden.

Once the super glue is dry cut a strip of the same paper you glued the balls to that is 1/8” wide by around 4” long. Then wrap the strip around the balls to form the triangle rack. Trim as needed so that the there is an overlap at the bottom of the rack.

I added a tiny drop of super glue to the 3 corner balls where they will touch the strip of paper then I added a coat of Tacky glue to one side of the paper strip and to one edge. Then with the glue against the bead/balls and the glued edge against the sheet of paper wrap the strip in place to for the rack. Allow the glue to dry.

 

Now carefully cut the rack with the balls away from the rest of the paper leaving just a tiny bit of paper past the sides of the rack.

And that is all there is to that part of the project.

And after last week’s video where we made the pool sticks one of you pointed out that I had missed something. And I am so glad to be able to fix that. I missed the little bit of a blue end where the cue stick has been chalked. So I looked online and found some photos of the ends of cue sticks and this week we are fixing that.

So since a lot of the photos of the high end cue sticks looked like they had a bit of a gold metal part at the end then the bit that is chalked at the end of that I decided to first dip the end of each one into my gold paint and allow that to dry. You just want a very tiny bit of the gold to show maybe a 1/16” or so.

Once dry I then spread some blue paint out on a scrap of paper to make just a thin layer and dipped the end of each one in this to make just the very tip blue. I wasn’t really sure exactly what color blue to use I just picked the one that looked closest to what I was seeing online.

And there have the project. I think this is one of my favorite things I have made lately because I needed to do some research and I learned a lot of new things which is what brought me to the miniature world in the first place.

 

 

 

I think the dolls look like they are having a lot of fun around the pool table don’t you?

 

 

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Wallpaper 101(revisited)

 

Watch the video here.

One of the subjects I get a lot of questions about on a regular basis is wallpaper for the dollhouse. I did do a wallpaper 101 video almost 10 years ago. A lot of the information here was in that one also but some things have changed (mainly what to use as a wallpaper adhesive) so I decided to do this video today. If you have questions about wallpaper that I don’t cover be sure to ask and I will do my best to answer them. If there are enough I will do a follow up video where I answer those questions.

So our first subject is glue. What is the best thing to put wallpaper onto the walls of the dollhouse. My all time favorite will probably always be Yes! Paste, but I have not been able to find a good source for that product for many years. Also the places online I can find it is extremely expensive. I have tried several different brands of adhesives that are marketed to dollhouse miniaturists. The brand I like the best is New Creations Wallpaper Gel. It goes on well and I have had very few issues with it. It is also available online from several places (including Amazon) and the price seems to range from around $5 to $10. so it is not terribly expensive.

Another product I have used in the past with mostly success is the adhesive that is sold to put wallpaper borders in real size homes. This is not the paste for the actual paper but specifically for wallpaper boarders. I am not sure what the difference is but I have read in the past not to use the regular wallpaper paste for dollhouses but I am not sure of the reason now.

Stay away from any adhesives that are thin (like Mod Podge) because they are very hard to work with on the larger areas that we are applying wallpaper.

The next thing we need to talk about is what to use as wallpaper. There are wallpapers sold for use in the dollhouse. They are normally large sheets about 12” by 18” depending on the manufacturer. They are a bit heavier than regular scrapbook paper but not by much. The designs are scaled for use in the dollhouse so they will look correct as far as size goes. Also the designs usually have fairly regular repeats across the sheet to make matching seams in the paper a lot easier.

The down side is depending on the style of your project you might have problems finding what you are looking for. There are only a few companies that make these papers so the choices can seem limiting sometimes.

Scrapbook papers come in many more styles/designs and are easy to find. Almost every craft store has at least 1 aisle in the store devoted to papers with designs printed on them. These however are not always going to be in scale for your project. You will have to use you “mini” eyes to gauge scale. Also the sheets are smaller generally (in the US anyway) either 8 ½” by 11” or 12” by 12” so you are more apt to need to have a seem in the paper on a larger wall. Also since this is not what they are designed for they generally are very difficult to match the pattern if you do end up with a seam. This can be worked around by being careful about placement though. I just want you to be aware.

Also these papers vary a lot in the weight of the paper they are printed on. They can be about the same as the mini wallpapers or very thin lightweight paper all the way up to cards stock weight. Depending on where in the dollhouse you are using them may or may not be an issue.

In most of the miniature rooms I have created over the 30+ years I have been doing this I tend to use more solid colors to create rooms that look like they are painted drywall like most of the rooms in the real homes I am familiar with. I prefer painted walls in real as well as mini homes. To me too much wallpaper with designs on it is over powering and I looks to busy. I tend to use patterned wallpaper on accent walls in both my mini rooms and real rooms. To do this I had figure out how to successfully replicate the look of painted dry wall. You can’t just paint the walls of the mini room and have it look right. I spent some time looking at the papers available in the craft stores/art stores and found the option in my opinion is to use the papers that intended for artists that use colored pencils and chalks. The paper I like the best is made by the company Canson and is called Mi-Tintes Art Paper. This comes in large sheets (19” by 25”) and in many solid colors. It is mostly smooth with just a hint of texture that looks like drywall in scale. I love this stuff. Over the years I have used this many many times and always been very happy with the results. I use it for both walls and ceilings.

One aspect of dollhouse wallpaper that I get asked about a lot is the question of which is better to add the wallpaper before or after the room/dollhouse is constructed. I have always wallpapered after construction, I prefer the look.

I know a lot of people do like to wallpaper before construction when everything is flat and easier to reach. They don’t have to worry about reaching into a small space and smoothing the wallpaper. And if that works for you great. I don’t like to do it this way and I will talk about why.

I do agree that it would be easier to apply the paper to the flat panels rather than reaching into the awkward spaces that the small rooms can become.

However I one thing I don’t like about this is that there will always be a line where the side walls meet the back wall of the room. When I look into a room that has been papered that way that usually is one of the first things I notice (unless you can hide with furniture or something) and that distracts me totally from enjoying the rest of the room.

 

To avoid this I usually wrap the paper on the corners to hide the seams so I am able to hide them better.

 

 

Also, I tend to not always put the walls dividing up the interior of a dollhouse exactly where the instructions might say to. Sometimes when I get ready to assemble oi decide to move a way a little bit one way or another. If I had wallpapered before assembly this would be much harder.

Another thing I always want to do is to add my lines of tape wire to all of my dollhouses, even if I am not planning to add lights right away. And this tape wire needs to go on the walls under the paper.

So in the end it is up to you when you wallpaper and do what works for you but those are my reasons for doing it when I do.

If you have any more questions be sure to ask and I will do my best to answer them.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Pool Table Accessories pt 1

 

Watch the video here.

 

This week we will be starting to work on some accessories for the pool table we created over the last two weeks. I had originally planned to get more done this week but due to things out of my control I didn’t get as much time to work on the project as I had wanted. So we will be making the cue sticks this week and next week we will be working on the pool balls and the triangle rack for them.

For the pool cue sticks (or whatever the correct term is) I did debate over a couple of things to use. I decided that bamboo skewers would be the easiest to use and also probably the easiest for most of you to be able to find.

The first thing I wanted to do was cut off the sharp point on the end of each one. You can use any tool that is safe to use to cut them (please don’t even think about using scissors) I used a pair of pet claw trimmers. I like these because they are designed to cut things that are round in shape and hard (claws) so they cut safely and don’t distort the shape of the skewer.

Next measure 5” from the end you just trimmed off and make a mark. I used a Sharpie pen for this because I would be able to see it even with a coat of paint over it. I am going to cut these so that the mark is cut off.

I also wanted to use some sandpaper to make the cue stick have a more gradual taper than the wooden skewer had. I did find that by looking at the skewers I had on hand some of them were more tapered than others so if you are lucky there won’t be much work to get a more gradual taper.

Now on to the fun part painting. I do recommend looking online at pictures of the real thing. Some of them are absolutely beautiful. I tried to pick ones to inspire me that were simple to replicate for the video.

You will need a way to keep these standing up while they dry. I found that my small clamps from Dollar Tree worked great for this.

 

 

 

For the first one I just gave it a solid coat of black craft paint. You could use any solid color you wanted to of course.

 

 

 

 

 

For the second one I just used some fairly dark brown paint like a wood stain again just a simple design (sorry I was off camera while doing this one)

 

 

 

 

For the third one I wanted to replicate one I saw online. That one had a dark brown wood stain at one end then it gradually changed to an off white color at the tip end. Not sure if I got it exactly right but I like how it turned out.

 

 

 

I did the fourth one off camera (mainly because I had totally forgotten about it when I was grabbing paint in the other room) I decided to do something kind of the like the third one except with a plum color paint at the tip end and black at the other end. I love how this one looks in person but the camera is not really picking up the color shift.

 

 

Once you are happy with the colors go ahead and give them a coat of Satin Mod Podge or a similar clear finish.

 

Once dry go ahead a trim at the point you marked earlier. Then smooth the cut end with sandpaper and touch up the paint. Once the paint dries touch up the clear finish and when that dries you are finished.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Pool Table Makeover pt 2

 

Watch the video here.

This week we are starting where we left off on the pool table project. (If you missed that video you can find it here)

I did have to add more glue to a couple of the legs to get them to stay where I wanted them. Also although the package on that dollar store glue said it would cure in 24 hours I found it was closer to 48 hours before the legs really felt like they would stay where I put them.

Today I started off by adding an additional coat of the same dark brown paint to the pool table. I have decided to give up on getting a wood grain look on this and am just going to have it be dark brown instead.

 

 

Now I was on to the step where I had to figure out the “felt” for the top of the table. I actually have been thinking about this since I started the project. In the end I decided that a sheet of cold press water color paper (140 lb weight) was the best choice of what I had on hand to work with.

 

 

 

 I cut a rectangle that was the same size as the top insert that came with the toy pool table as well as 3 strips that were ¼” wide by the length of the paper (12”) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These I painted with a bright green craft paint, I did debate with myself what color I wanted to use and just went with the standard green although I saw online that pool table felt can be many colors.

 

 

After the paint was completely dry (mine sat overnight) I set up to glue first the strips that would be on the edges of the table. I decided to use e6000 for this since I needed something that would adhere to the plastic of the pool table. I really was not happy with the dollar tree glue I used on the legs so that was why I made the decision I did.

Initially I thought I would need to clamp the strips in order for them to stay but happily I found the glue soaked into the paper really well and held without having to clamp. This was really good because I could only find 2 of my big clamps so it would have been a very slow process if I had to do all the strips with only the two clamps.

I trimmed all the ends of all the strips so they all ended at a consistent spot on the holes. I then glued them in place. I did have to hold a bit longer on these spots and some super glue would have been handy to help hold them in place but I got everything to stick with a bit of patience.

Once the side edges were finished I checked the fit of the rectangle, I did find I had to take off just a tiny sliver of one long side to make it fit. Instead of making holes at the corners and on the sides I decided to just angle the corners if I were to do this again I would probably make extensions on the rectangle that would go part way into the area for the hole then use a hole punch to make about a ¼” to ½” hole at those spots. Then I added e6000 to the flat areas of the top of the table and to the edges of the rectangle. I carefully put the piece in place and smoothed it down so I would stick together.

Once all the green pieces were glued in place the glue had time to set up I coated the green areas with mat Mod Podge.

After the mat Mod Podge had time to dry I added a coat of satin Mod Podge to the brown areas.

And once that dries the pool table is ready for the man cave or another mini scene, maybe a bar or a pool hall would be a fun project for this to live.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Dollar Tree Paint Test

 

Watch the video here.

Have you ever looked at the craft paints in the Crafter’s Square aisle of your local Dollar Tree and wondered if they were any good. I know I have so I decided we should put them to the test this week.

I am almost out of white craft paint and I need to get more soon. So I have been really tempted by the craft paints at Dollar Tree, I mean I’m already there if they are any good it would save me money and also I wouldn’t have to go to the craft store across town. So I decided to test those paints so we can all see if we can get decent craft paint for only $1.25.

I purchased three of the paints offered by my Dollar Tree. I left the one marked as “washable” behind as well as the Ceramic Paint. The ones I got were the Acryology Premium Acrylic, Crafter’s Square Tempera Paint, and Prang Ready-to-Use Tempera Paint. All brands in white. In the test I am using my Anita’s Acrylic Paint as my control to compare the others against.

I made up a test card for each brand on the cards were strips of 3 colors of card-stock (tan, red, and black) to paint over to test for opacity of the paints. I gave myself room to do see how opaque the paint was with 1,2, and 3 layers of paint.

I decided to also add a stripe of Mod Podge over the part with 3 layers to see how it affected the color, finish, and to see if it lifted or smeared the dried paints.

I think most of us in my generation remember painting with tempera paints in grade school. I remember my teachers had to mix the paint powder with water before we had art class each time. Other than that I really didn’t know a lot about tempera paint so I did some research when I got home today.

According to Google tempera paint should be vibrant and opaque and quick drying. On the other hand it washes off (both from clothes and your project) and is not flexible.

Acrylic paints are more durable, have a smoother finish and are flexible.

So lets look at the test and how the paints did in the test.

I set up the paints with their cards on my work tile. I dedicated a wide brush to each sample and kept the brushes wrapped with wet wipes during drying periods. I did shake the liquid paints before getting the working sample out of each bottle and the working samples were kept covered during the drying periods as well.

On the first step of the test I painted 3 stripes of the paint on the corresponding cards. I did my best to use the same amount of paint on each card and on each stroke of the brush. After the this first layer the only card that really had much coverage was the one for the Anita’s paint. The rest were very translucent. I set the cards to dry but I did end up using my heat gun to speed up drying since I needed to get the video finished in time to post it.

For the second step I added two more stripes of paint to each card. At this point I expected the paint to look fairly opaque on the cards but this was not the case at all.

The third step was another repeat of the steps giving each card the final stripe of color. I was surprised that the coverage was a terrible on most of the cards as it was. I mean I wasn’t expecting this to be great paint but for some of these there was so little coverage.

Once all the paints were dry I added a stripe of Mod Podge down the center of each 3 layer sample. I wanted to see if the Mod Podge would lift the paint so I wiped the brush off on a piece of the red card-stock after each one. I also used a different brush for each sample because I was afraid some of the paints might come off onto the brush. I was pleasantly surprised that at least there was no lifting of the paint.

So here are the each of the brands of paint with its test card so you can see for yourself how the coverage looks.

 

 

Acryology- I had high hopes for this one before I purchased it. However as you can see the coverage is pretty dismal at best. I think I will play around with this one and see just how many coats it would take to get coverage.

 

 

 

 

 

Crafter’s Square- this one has the worst coverage of the batch. I’m not sure if it has any uses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prang- this is another one I might play around with to see if it can be used as a base coat to seal porous materials before painting them with something else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anita’s- my control sample card looks just the way I knew it would.

 

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.